Two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington (American Gangster) directs and stars with Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) in this "important and deeply inspiring page from the not-so-distant past" (Richard Roeper, At the Movies with Ebert and Roeper). Inspired by a true story, Washington shines as a brilliant but politically radical debate team coach who uses the power of words to transform a group of underdog African American college students into an historical powerhouse that took on the Harvard elite. Featuring a superb cast of rising young actors, "The Great Debaters is marvelous entertainment that you should not miss" (Andrew Sarris, The New York Observer).